Out of Africa, big cats and small cats...

Hello my blog friends...  I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Isn't this the cutest picture?  I got it from Tumbler.

I have been so busy with events and kitties of late that I haven't put a post together in a while.

I've had a wedding every weekend and will continue for several more weeks.  Very blessed in these tough times!  It is nice to know that we are able to put kibble in the food bowl!

I was pulling some pictures of our cats for another thing I am working on and thinking about events and I remembered a fun birthday party my husband and I put on.  I thought you might like it and it ties in with the kitties...

We created an Out of Africa themed birthday party at the local zoo for a client's 60th birthday (that is her favorite movie and one of mine too).  I don't have too many pictures of it as the professional photographer unfortunately messed up so there are only some detail shots I took.

In the large clearing in the middle of the zoo we basically set up a camp a la safari style.

At the entrance to the party we had an old jeep filled with large scale boxes of Animal Crackers.

We staged several "tents" around a camp fire and one long feasting table that a sumptuous buffet was laid out upon.  We had African drummers playing as people entered which transitioned to beautiful softer African music.  All around us were the various animals with the large cats particularly close making a cacophony of sounds.  Each tent had a theme to them in keeping with the movie and safaris in general.

This was part of the map and research tent...

This was the kitchen tent...  we pulled out all our camping gear to kit it out such as our Coleman stove, tin plates and canteens...

This was "Karen's tent"(the main character in the movie) complete with cot, vintage steamer trunk and vintage clothes.  I actually had some Limoges china too (you have to have seen the movie to understand).

We had a tea tent with an actual Victrola  continuously playing one of Mozart's concertos from the movie.

It was such a special party and as my hubby and I loved the movie too it was a pleasure to put together.

Watching the big cats at the zoo (or MUCH more to my preference seeing them in their natural habitat in Africa) makes me realize how similar the smaller domesticated cats are to their wild ancestors.  There are times when I really see the large cat in them.

This is Flat Top, he wandered into our lives starving after being dropped off in the wild.  We are pretty sure he was a pet as he is the sweetest tamest cat you can imagine.  He just wants to be in your lap and loved all the time.  His purr resembles that of a Lion in its' volume!  Can't you see a lion with his mane in Flat Top?

Here is Nipper giving Cleo a bath just as in the top picture of the mom and her cub.

Here is Tiger...  that really is his name and he purrs like one also... very loud and deep!  He was another abandoned love.

This is Tom and McGonagall (yes she is named after Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter movies, don't you think she looks like her anamagus?).  They were completely feral when we started taking care of them.  Now they love to be petted almost as much as they love each other...

This is Yazz, he too was completely feral.  Now my hubby has him trained and doing tricks.  Here he is touching his nose to a stick on command...

Here is the latest addition to our family...  4 completely wild kittens...

They were part of a larger problem area of feral cats in a neighboring community.  Many of them had feline leukemia and couldn't be saved but these sweeties are healthy.  They are totally wild but we are working with them and bit by bit they will join the herd and no doubt become lap cats too.  I have to say that it is adorable to hear them hiss and spit in their tiny way.  I am glad they are not of the big variety or I would be missing a finger by now.  One of them bit me and I was changing the water and food...

Here we are getting them used to being petted, we start with a long stick which they immediately bite...

but then they start to enjoy the petting...  little by little.

We are now at the next stage where they are able to run loose in the room.  If we are slow and careful we can approach them and get a few pets in before they run off.  The cage is left open and that is where we try to feed them.  We try to have all the cats eat in kennels or cages or traps so we can get them out in an emergency.  It also helps to get them easily when we need to go to the vet.  I highly recommend people feed their pets in kennels or secure carriers of some kind so that if you have to you can get them out quickly.  It is the only way we were able to evacuate 40+ kitties in a fire we had 2 years ago. 

 That is another VERY LONG blog post for the future...
Here are two of our sweeties in their kennels eating...

That is Nipper on the top and Muchkin on the bottom.  Munchkin was also a wild kitten when we took her in...

She was a lot smaller when we found her so she was quickly tamed... well sort of...

She definitely has a bit of a big cat in her!

For the full story of what my hubby and I do in regards to the cats visit our kitty charity web page called The Lucky Few.  

Good night all my friends in blog land, give your pets my love (as well as to you!)

The winner of the butterfly wreath is....

First my apologies to everyone for being a day late on the drawing...  you know what they say...  "a day late and a dollar short".  Well at least I am not a dollar short this time.

I had my random number generator (my husband) give me a number between one and 55 (the number of people who are followers and who commented on the post).  He came up with 54.  This matches a wonderful woman by the name of Linda Carole Bloom.

I went to her blog and was surprised that I had not seen it before.  I thought I had peeked into all of the "blogger creates" posts.  I am so happy such a lovely person won it.  Not only is she a creative person with a great studio she is also a critical care nurse.  She did the most beautiful post on nurses, photos of their hands doing their work, it brought tears to my eyes!  Please go and visit her blog, it is lovely!  Unfortunately I have had my share of family and friends in critical care and I understand as much as one can how incredibly important these amazing people are.
One of my friends who is no longer with us was in critical care for many months.  I made a wreath for her which then proceeded to circulate all over the ward and everyone had their pictures taken with it on, generating much laughter.  Soooo....  it is my wish that Linda wear it to work and see what happens.
Linda I will email you through your blog and get your address so I can send this off to you,  Thank you so much for what you do!  It is of such importance and value!  I would gladly make you a hundred wreaths for what you do!!!
Also thank you to everyone who came by for a visit and left such lovely comments.  You are all very special to me!
Blessings to everyone!!!

P.S.  She has dogs...  I hope they do not mind a few cat hairs.  Maybe she can tell them they are butterfly hairs...